HotelsMag July-August 2016 | Page 52

F & B

Chef ’ s viewpoint

Breakfast is a major part of many group meetings . Mark Dayanandan , executive chef at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside , has seen an increase in demand for smaller plates as opposed to traditional buffets . Since arriving at the popular convention hotel earlier this year , Dayanandan has introduced a “ dinner for breakfast ” concept , fusing traditional dinner ingredients with morning favorites , including pork belly , duck confit , English peas , Brussels sprouts and poached eggs .
HOTELS spoke with Dayanandan about the concept , challenges when catering for groups and the importance of being creative in a competitive marketplace .
HOTELS : What inspired the dinner for breakfast concept ? Mark Dayanandan : We didn ’ t want to limit ourselves to just the typical breakfast products anymore . Nothing is really for every specific meal period these days . We want our banquet food to be very special . We want to continue to get away from what a lot of convention hotels and big convention centers have fallen into and offer something creative to establish ourselves as a trendy operation .
H : What dishes stand out as unique ? MD : Duck confit with morel mushrooms and English sweet peas – that is a beautiful dish . It ’ s novel , has lots of flavors and is very earthy . It also isn ’ t overly heavy . We also have done a crab cake benedict with remoulade hollandaise and a New York strip steak with spinach and poached egg .
H : What specific challenges do you face catering to a group versus catering for just a restaurant ? MD : Having enough time to get to really know the group and understand the demographics of the group so that you can create menus that are custom
" NothiNg is really for every specific meal period these days . We WaNt our baNquet food to be very special ."
for them . We want to send out an individualized proposal to a group opposed to just sending out general banquet packages and have them pick what they may like . We want to understand who they are , and we want to provide items that we know will be good fits for the group .
It also takes a bit of time to build our menus because we don ’ t want to rush . We want to be able to really figure out not just the food quality and items and ingredients , but also how we are going to present this in a banquet scene so that that it flows
- Mark DayananDan , Hilton new orleans riversiDe
well . We can host events for over 3,000 people , so we have to also make sure that it ’ s practical and we have to understand what the capabilities are within the operation .
H : How long does it take to build a banquet menu ? What does the process entail ? MD : If I ’ m writing a menu for a group , I get all of my sous chefs around a table and we ask ourselves : ‘ This is who the group is , this is what they are looking for and what do you think they would expect and enjoy ?’
There isn ’ t just one person writing a menu . There is a diverse group among culinary team of all ages and experience levels passing ideas off of one another . We have a good old-meets-new kind of balance when we are putting menus together and we usually come up with fun , innovative ideas that fit a particular group .
H : How much does New Orleans inspire the group menus ? MD : We want to be able to give them that experience , but you can ’ t do that three days in a row . They need variety .
50 hotelsmag . com July / August 2016